If you see Gilbert Gottfried waiting for a bus in front of a cheap motel, the famous comic isn’t down on his luck.

That’s just because the comedian likes to keep costs down.

His budget-conscious road trips land him next in Long Beach on Oct. 10 for a stand-up performance at the Gaslamp, which Gottfried warns you may live to regret.

“What you can expect (at the Gaslamp) is to sit there for five minutes and then turn to the person you’re sitting with and ask, ‘Whose idea was it to see Gilbert Gottfried?’” joked the comedian about his upcoming Tuesday night show.

Gottfried, who began doing stand-up at the age of 15 during an open mic night in New York, is a former “Saturday Night Live” cast member widely recognizable for his squinting facial expressions and loud, shrill voice (which sounds nothing like the soft-spoken tone he used for this interview). He delivers no-holds barred comedy with often raunchy material.

Yet he’s also a successful voice-over actor, who’s probably best known to children as the wise-cracking parrot in Disney’s “Aladdin” or the duck from the Aflac insurance commercials.

These and other contradictions that have made Gottfried a successful stand up and actor are captured in a surprisingly revealing and touching documentary directed by Neil Berkeley titled “Gilbert,” which is set for theatrical release on Nov. 11.

“It’s very peculiar,” Gottfried said of his documentary, explaining that the filmmaker approached him and said he had always dreamed of doing a Gilbert Gottfried documentary.

“I told him you should really set your dreams a lot higher than that. And then he started just following me around. He would show up at my apartment, he followed me to club dates and I hated every second of him following me, but I didn’t say no to it,” he said.

Part of the film shows the Gottfried most people are familiar with: performing material on stage that is so outrageous some people begin to walk out.

“Wait a minute, come back,” he says in the film to two women who walk out during one of his sets.

“Usually I lose the crowd quicker than that. I must be slipping,” he adds to more laughter.

It also shows his softer side as a caring father with his wife and kids, who don’t think he’s that funny.

And in a testament to his impact, about a dozen comedians like Jay Leno, Lewis Black, Bill Burr and Whoppi Goldberg, talk about his influence on comedy.

They also joke him a little about his frugal ways, like taking buses to shows and stocking up on free sodas from green rooms or staying in cheap motels to save money, which has led to a cache of hotel supplies.

“That’s all true. I do take these buses, I do steal soaps and shampoos. If I see something for free, even a sanitary napkin, I’ll take it,” the comedian said with a laugh.

Gottfried says he’s shocked at some of the good reviews the documentary has received so far, because he hates seeing such a personal side of himself on film.

“When I watch it, I hate watching it ,” Gottfried admits.

“It’s like when you die and you go to hell and what hell must be when you view your life,” he said with a small chuckle. “It’s like, first of all, I go, ‘Wait, I move around like that? I sound like that? I don’t want to see my life.”

But ultimately he’s fine with the documentary and was touched by the number of respected comics who appeared in the film.

“That was pretty amazing, the amount of people willing to do it and say nice stuff about me,” he said.

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